revisiting beijing

We were very fortunate to visit Beijing in the month between the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in September, 2008. The main benefit of this was multi-faceted:

there were fewer fellow tourists around as it was the 'lull' between the two huge events

traffic restrictions were still in place, so we didn't get stuck in traffic jams trying to see as much as possible of this amazing city

industry restrictions were also still in place, so we had the benefit of (in Beijing's terms) pollution- and haze-free atmospheric conditions.

We knew we were fortunate at the time, but we truly appreciated our good timing once we got to Shanghai!

I have recently been inspired to revisit my photographs from our time in China (I will be adding more to the site soon), but I wanted to share these edits of different views of the incredible China Central Television tower. This building is amazing - sculptural, sleek, seemingly gravity-defying, glossy. Designed by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren of OMA and built between 2004 - 2012.

Tucked into a small, roadside garden near the CCTV tower, we came across a beautiful abstract sculpture. The glossy, smooth surface mimicked flowing water and the juxtaposition of the fluid reflection of the sharp angles and hard surface of the CCTV tower was just fabulous.